From a tin with PCOS to a young woman with fibromyalgia, Aradhna Chhachhi pens down her struggles with overthinking and simple ways that work for her to overcome this. For all the girls out there doing the same – and there are so many of us – below is what you really need to overthink about!
“There is always room for improvement.”
“You can learn something new each day.”
The number of times we have heard this hard-hitting and the real meaning of the statement is probably incalculable. But, how many times has it truly hit home to the aspect we’re striving to improve?
For me, whenever I read or listen to someone say this, I immediately visualise what I want to improve – my overthinking. Over the years of stumbling, falling, churning over the wheels of my mind and then eventually beginning to rise, if there’s one consistent thing I’ve grasped onto, it’s that the concept of overthinking is addictive and takes you through a downward spiral. So often I have started the day beautifully, looked at the mirror with a flick of my hair and walked out into the sunshine. And once the comment by someone puts me into a spiral again.
Certainly, that stray comments makes your thoughts & decisions suffer a lack of clarity, your self-esteem takes a hit, your mental health gets impacted and your relationships also get affected because you’re just not in the mood to be nice. But, like most other issues in life, there’s light at the end of this tunnel. Here’s listing down a few steps based on personal experience & how it can help throw overthinking into the trash:
- Spend time with yourself & listen to your thoughts on a daily basis. Write down your thoughts so that you know what you actually want versus what people expect out of you.
- Express more about how you feel (the ups, the downs, the laughs & the cries). This week, people’s expectations of you will be as per who you truly are and not as per who do you think you are.
- Engage in 30-45 min of regular moderate exercise (endorphin release means gaining some clarity and a light singing step to your walk)
- Deep Breathing. Just 10-15 mins of this with music by yourself every day changes your response to stress and makes you feel blunted to what others think.
- Journal. I am a sucker for this. I not only look for pretty journals for myself, I push my folks at work to source them and give them to all the beautiful warriors we treat.
- Have conversations with yourself the same way you’d speak to your favourite person in the world. If someone is your favourite person and you love them, why can’t that be you?
- Read something positive each morning. It could be a quote, an article or a few pages of your favourite book. Some tips of the books I turned to – and I can just pick them up and read any age and it uplifts me are The Little Book of Comfort by Ruskin Bond, The Path Made Clear by Oprah Winfrey, and Calm – The Magic Of Sleep by Michael Acton Smith. For when I want to be engrossed in a fictional world, The Collected Short Stories of Roald Dahl does wonders.
- Get adequate sleep (9-10 hours). Stop being aghast! Sleep is actually our repair mechanism to calm the brain down and reduce the process of overthinking. If you can’t sleep, breathe before you sleep.
Love,
From a woman who’s much better than her yesterdays and working towards beautiful tomorrows.
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